The Tampa Bay Lightning and Nashville Predators had the honor of facing off on Tuesday night in the very first game of the 2023-2024 National Hockey League (NHL) season, and at Amalie Arena, the Bolts hit hard, winning 5-3.
While they were clearly ahead in the first half when they only allowed the “Preds” two shots, the local heroes cooled off in the second half. However, Nick Paul scored two very important goals.
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It was Nikita Kucherov who scored the first goal of the season midway through the first game. The Russian, supported by his stalwarts Victor Hedman and Brayden Point, fired a resounding slap shot that beat Juuse Saros.
As mentioned above, Tampa was looking for itself in the second period. Ryan O’Reilly took the opportunity to open his account with Nashville, who signed a four-season contract this summer.
Luckily Paul was there. As soon as the guests took the lead in the third period thanks to Juuso Parssinen, the striker equalized to make it 2-2. It was also he who scored the winning goal just under nine minutes before the end of the clock.
Johansson does the essentials
The injury to Andrei Vasilevskiy caused a wave of uncertainty among many, but general manager Jon Cooper insisted on starting the season with an inexperienced duo at this level in Jonas Johansson and Matt Tomkins.
Despite the fears for him, Johansson performed well in his first test. He blocked 29 of the 32 shots he faced and gave up once on the power play to Tommy Novak.
“I’m surprised he hasn’t played in the NHL more,” Cooper said before the game, according to the Bettman Circuit website. Having said that, I think goalkeepers develop later, so maybe now is his time thanks to how far he has come.”
Speaking of travel, Ryan McDonagh finally returned to the amphitheater where he had so much success with the Lightning. The defenseman won the Stanley Cup twice and was then traded to the Predators in July 2022. He was injured last year while playing at the Amalie Arena.
“It’s obviously a special place. Great memories, a good team that is still there, as well as the coaching team. […] “Tampa will always have a special place in my heart because of all the success and memories we have had,” said McDonagh, who picked up an assist.
Kucherov completed the goal into the empty net. Point finished his night of work with three assists.